Tempted Imprint: Collin's POV
by IamKate
Summary: Collin imprinted on Claire Young-Ateara's best friend Lindsey when she was 15. He has since lived for his imprint, yet he's oddly drawn to her friend, Amber. When Collin and Amber share a dance at a friend's wedding, sparks fly. One Shot.


_A/N – If you haven't read my stories "Early Imprint (Quil's Story)" or "Forbidden Imprint (Embry's Story)," this one-shot will contain spoilers and most likely won't make sense to you. This is rated T for coarse language._

_To my current readers, I think the vote was pretty much a split between who wanted the bonus chapter to be Ryan's POV of the kiss and who wanted Collin's POV of the dance, so I decided to write Collin's POV since I'm not planning on writing his story. The next chapter of Forbidden Imprint should be up early next week._

_Disclaimer: While the wonderful world and characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, the characters Amber, Ashley, and Lindsey are my own creation._

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Tempted Imprint (Collin's POV)

**Shall We Dance?**

Collin's POV

There are some wolves that imprint and then slowly fall in love with their mates. It's not instant love as some might believe. It's a bond you feel. You're whole world suddenly revolves around that person. But she doesn't necessarily fall in love with you, and you don't always fall in love immediately right back. I mean if we did, Quil would have fallen in love with a kid. Same with Ryan and Jacob. That's just sick. But no, the "in love" part develops over time. Because we're meant to be with our imprints. They're our soul mates. Or as Sam once put it, they're a gift we're given.

I personally always thought that imprinting was a bunch of bullshit. I had seen too many wolves get torqued up over it. To have your entire mood decided for you based on whether your imprint smiled at you or not…it was just too weird. And if an outsider looked at imprinting, I'm sure they would think we were all fucked up.

I mean, take Sam's situation for example. Sam and his girlfriend Leah were going strong. He was even going to propose to her, and then bam…her cousin Emily comes to town, and Sam dumps Leah to pursue his true mate. He basically had to stalk Emily because she wanted nothing to do with him. And then one day while Leah was out of town, Sam begged and pleaded with Emily to go for a walk with him. He confessed his feelings, Emily rejected him, and Sam lost control scarring his woman for life. The craziest part is that they still ended up together. Sam was ready to kill himself over what he did, but Em saved him.

I loved both of them, but even I had to admit their imprint was ugly. I know outsiders who didn't understand the situation thought Emily was a boyfriend stealing bitch who got what she deserved when she was "mauled by a bear." They didn't get how absolutely lost Sam was without his Emily. Then again, the same people who questioned Sam and Emily, also thought it was weird that so many of the tribe's "protectors" hung out with little kids, specifically little kids named Claire, Gracie, and Renesmee.

I thought the whole thing was weird myself. I even mocked the guys for their behavior around their imprints. I thought I'd never be one of "those guys." You know…completely whipped. And then one day I decided to do Quil a favor. His imprint Claire had gotten into trouble and her parents decided to have her move in with her Uncle Sam and Aunt Emily. Quil, of course, had been ecstatic that his imprint was moving to the Rez.

Quil wasn't in love with her at the time. She was only 15 and he insisted to anyone who'd listen that he only saw her as a friend. Denial is such a bitch sometimes.

Anyone could see that Quil was falling in love with his young Claire (of course, he didn't admit it until years later). But it was obvious to the rest of us what his feelings were. You could see it on the day we moved Claire to La Push. His eyes always lingered on her, which wasn't unusual. He'd done that since she was little. What was new was the way he kept checking out her curves when he didn't think anyone else was watching. As we loaded up the car full of boxes and Claire said goodbye to her family, I lost count how many times Quil would glance at Claire's chest. He was more than aware of her. I had planned on using my observations as weapons against him the next time we patrolled together. I loved giving the guys crap…it's always been my thing. I had all these jokes lined up in my head when I heard the single sweetest sound I had ever heard.

It was the voice of my own imprint…my Lindsey. She was Claire's best friend and had been since they were kids. She was only 15 at the time too, but that didn't matter to me. Yeah, yeah…I know. I was as big a perv as the rest of them…and I didn't care.

Now as I said before, wolves don't always fall in love at first sight. They feel that instant, gravity moving thing, but love develops over time. Not so for me. I took one look at Lindsey and fell completely, hopelessly in love with her. And what was the best thing about it was that she felt the exact same way, though she didn't tell me until years later.

So I became my own worst nightmare. I went from being the pack's imprint cynic to being a bonafide sap. I became what I used to mock. It had almost killed me when Quil forced me leave Makah that day with him and Claire so I could finish helping her move. He literally had to break my arm so that I would leave Lindsey. As soon as I got back to La Push, Sam had noticed my distraction and told me I could go. I'd run into the woods, phased, and quickly made my way back to Makah.

Once I got there, I had followed the pull to my imprint until I found her on the beach with two of her friends. Her face had had so many emotions on it. Sadness over Claire's recent departure, excitement…perhaps because of me…and happiness…because as I later learned, Lindsey was the eternal optimist. Which is really funny when you think about it…Miss Happy-Go-Lucky gets imprinted on by the wolf pack pessimist.

"So…spill," Lindsey's one friend had said.

"His name is Collin…and he's beautiful," Lindsey had gushed.

My heart had pounded and it took every ounce of strength to not run to her.

"I thought you were into Tyler," the same friend said. My mind had immediately gone into "must find Tyler and destroy" mode.

"Ashley…shh…I want details," the other friend had said. I didn't even pay attention to either girl. My eyes were only on Lindsey.

"Is he cuter than Quil?" The second friend had asked.

"Amber, you should see him…there are no words to describe him. He's perfect."

Again, I still hadn't taken my eyes off my Lindsey. Maybe I should have. If I had, I would have paid more attention to her friends, specifically Amber, but all I could see was Lindsey. The imprint was so new that nothing else mattered.

After that day, I made it a daily ritual to go up to Makah for my Lindsey fix. I would usually go at night, when I could sleep outside her bedroom window, just listening to her breathe. If I was very lucky, I would sometimes even catch glimpses of her while she was awake.

Things didn't really start moving for us until the following summer. She came down one weekend to La Push to attend a bonfire with Claire. She was 16 to my 28. I still didn't care if I ended up on TV's "To Catch A Predator." I wanted Lindsey, she was my destiny, and I made my interest known. We ended up kissing for the first time that night. Nothing hot and heavy, just a very sweet, tender exchange of saliva. And it was one of the best experiences of my life. We exchanged email addresses that night and kept in daily contact after that.

It was a month or so after the bonfire that I realized there was something different about Amber. When Claire turned 16, Lindsey had come down to La Push bringing her and Claire's friends, Ashley and Amber, with her. I had immediately gravitated to Lindsey's side, and Lindsey formerly introduced me to Amber and Ashley.

Ashley I paid little attention to. I couldn't see her face anyway. I couldn't see any woman's face since I imprinted. It was all part of the imprint magic. Wolves couldn't see female faces unless they were in pain. So when I looked at Amber for the first time…really looked at her I mean…I was immediately concerned for her well-being when I saw her in perfect clarity. She held out her hand for me to shake and I'd made eye contact with her for the first time and…I can't describe it really.

The feel of her hand touching mine was electric. It felt almost as good as when I touched Lindsey's skin. I didn't understand my reaction. For one thing, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lindsey was it for me. I loved her with everything I had in me. But there was something about Amber. In that moment as I held her hand and looked into her eyes, I forgot about everything and everyone around me. And she looked at me just as curiously. As soon as we let go of each other's hands, the strange connection I had felt to her disappeared immediately. I'd turned my eyes back to Lindsey and she was all I could see.

Lindsey and I continued to keep in contact. I knew her parents were concerned with our relationship, but Sam went up and talked to them along with Claire's father. Lindsey didn't date anyone and neither did I. Our emails became more serious, our feelings for each other strengthened. I was and still am completely in love with her.

When Lindsey turned 18, I told her everything. I let her know about being a wolf and imprinting. She thought I was crazy so I ended up phasing in front of her to prove my point. Her reaction was to have her eyes roll to the back of her head right before she passed out. Once she woke up though, she asked me to go to prom with her. And just like that we became a couple.

Her prom was something else. I felt like a fish out of water being surrounded by kids, but it'd made Lindsey happy and that was all that mattered to me. We told everyone I was her college boyfriend. I looked about 24, so it wasn't too much of a stretch. We went to prom with Ashley and her boyfriend, and Amber and her date. Again, I noticed Amber was in focus to me. I was so concerned I'd asked Lindsey if Amber was being abused at home, but Lindsey assured me that Amber's parents were very loving and devoted to their daughter. So I let it drop.

I'd had a great time dancing the night away with Lindsey. If on occasion I'd see Amber dancing a little too close to her partner and I'd become irritated at the sight, I would force myself to ignore it and would instead concentrate on my imprint.

After Lindsey graduated, I didn't have to worry about Amber. She went off to school in California and I didn't see her for little over a year. And honestly, I didn't think much about her anyway. Out of sight was out of mind, and when she wasn't standing in front of me, I didn't give her a second thought.

In the meantime, Lindsey and I moved in together. I got a job doing construction work with Sam, Jared, and Paul. I did my duties to the pack and patrolled when I was supposed to. But the rest of my time was entirely devoted to my turtledove. Yeah, I became one of those guys who gave their girlfriends stupid nicknames. The guys mocked me for a change instead of me giving them shit, but I didn't care because I was happy.

And then when Claire and Lindsey were 19, Claire was attacked when she was away at school in California. Her life for a short time had hung between life and death, and Lindsey and I had rushed to offer whatever comfort we could to Quil and Claire's family. While we were at the hospital, we ran into Ashley and Amber. Ashley had hated me for awhile, so I ignored her behavior towards me, but it was Amber I couldn't take my eyes off of. She'd looked beautiful even with concern for Claire written all over her face. Amber came over and hugged Lindsey, before turning to briefly hug me. It lasted only a few seconds, but again, once I felt her skin I lost all sense of reality and wanted to continue to touch her.

It was beginning to really freak me out. Being a pack member for so long, I knew what it was like to be in the minds of other imprinted wolves. No one had ever experienced a reaction like I had.

After Embry imprinted on his mate (who happened to be married to someone else), he made it his personal mission to sleep with as many women as possible. Whenever he did the deed, he would feel immense pain. I knew that for a fact. Whenever I had to patrol with him after he'd spent the night with someone who wasn't his imprint, he would sometimes relive what he'd gone through. The pain was unreal. It even made him throw up sometimes. Hell, it made me want to be sick myself. But I couldn't relate to him because he never once had gone through what I was going through with Amber.

And I knew Quil didn't think about other women. He once tried to kiss someone who wasn't Claire when she was still a kid. The girl had gone all smelly demon on him and he never tried again after that.

So if what I felt for Amber was indeed attraction, why didn't I get cock-blocked like the other guys? She should have turned into a nasty hell-beast whenever I got too close to her, but instead, the rest of the world disappeared on me. It made me question the whole practice of imprinting.

Why could I see Amber? What did that mean to my imprint to Lindsey? What was the reason I reacted so strongly to her?

I thought perhaps she was related to Lindsey somehow. That maybe they shared DNA and that was why I could see her. But that theory hit the toilet when I remembered that for a short time before Leah phased and joined the pack, Sam couldn't see her and she was related to Sam's imprint.

I came up with a second theory. Once Jared's twins, Hayley and Hanna, hit puberty, they didn't go out of focus to any of us who'd imprinted, so we figured out that wolf daughters could be seen by all of us, imprinted or not because of their DNA. I began to suspect that Amber was related to a wolf, but after some careful probing, I found that she had no connection to the pack at all. Her mom was pure Makah and her dad wasn't even Native. So that theory flew out the window as well. I never dwelled on it too long though.

When Lindsey turned 20, we decided to get married. I proposed to her after a very hot afternoon of sex. She was my life. There wasn't a shadow of a doubt that there was only one woman I wanted in my life and Lindsey was it for me. Once I proposed, we decided not to wait. We hopped in a car and went straight to Reno where we eloped.

Two months later, Quil and Claire decided to get hitched. They went with an elaborate wedding à la Alice Cullen style. I was supposed to walk with the mega bitch that was Ashley, but thanks to the last minute arrival of Embry Call, who had disappeared for years and only just made it in time for the wedding, I ended up walking with Amber.

It was like an evil twist of fate. I was happily married but something kept pushing me at her. I watched her walk up the aisle towards me and I couldn't quite take my eyes off her. Her eyes were puffy and red and I was immediately concerned. Who or what had hurt her? Did the pack need to go after somebody? Why did she affect me like she did?

And then Lindsey came into my view and I forgot all about Amber and everyone else. I could feel the pull to her as clearly as the first day I had imprinted on her.

As soon as the wedding ceremony was done though, and I grabbed Amber's trembling hand to walk her back down the aisle, the same thing happened to me as when I first shook her hand several years before. Electric heat was the only way to describe it.

After we did our walk down the aisle, I immediately let her go and headed over to my Lindsey. I didn't want to feel any heat with anyone else. I didn't want to be able to see any other woman's face but hers. Lindsey was all that I needed.

For the next hour, I focused all my energy on Lindsey. She made me laugh as she recounted where they had taken Claire for her bachelorette party. Apparently, they had gone to a gay club and had a blast. I told Lindsey about the fact that we had gotten Quil a stripper for his party who happened to be older than his grandfather. Lindsey laughed so hard, she had tears coming down her cheeks.

That was one thing I loved about Lindsey. She had the most infectious laugh. It didn't matter where I was in our house. If I heard her laugh, I instantly started laughing too. And then the dreaded wedding party dance began. I was partnered with the girl I had tried to avoid…Amber.

Lindsey went over to grab Embry and I walked over to Amber. Ashley was nearby doing her usual death glare stare. I ignored her like I always did.

"Shall we?" I asked Amber, holding out my hand to her.

"Sure, duty calls right?" Amber said, with a sad smile.

We went to the middle of the dance floor where the other couples were already dancing. I saw Embry dancing with Lindsey and wished it was me holding her. Sighing, I reached down and put my one hand on Amber's waist and with my other hand I pressed my palm to hers, letting our fingers entwine.

We danced and didn't say anything, but as I looked down at her the strangest feeling of rightness settled over me. I closed my eyes for a minute and breathed in her sweet smell of rose petals. When I opened them again, I saw the sadness she couldn't quite hide…not from me anyway.

"Are you upset about something?" I asked softly.

"No, I'm fine," Amber said.

I watched her mouth as she spoke and found that I couldn't look away. I had never really noticed the gentle bow of her upper lip before. For one crazy second, I wanted to run my thumb across it. Would it feel as soft as it looked? Snapping out of it, I focused on her eyes again.

There was something wrong. I felt it as though it were my own pain. I wanted to desperately take away whatever hurt she was feeling.

Before I knew it, I was no longer holding her hand, but had both hands on her waist. She, in turn, moved both her hands to my shoulders. Against my will, I pulled her closer to me and leaned down to speak in her ear. Being so close to her skin, I found myself wanting to taste it with my tongue. I could feel the heat from her body and I was drawn to it, like the suicidal moth to the flame.

But I stopped myself from doing anything stupid. Why? Because when it came to desire, all I truly wanted was Lindsey.

Instead, I whispered in her ear, "Amber, tell me what's wrong…_please_."

She shook her head and when I pulled back, she had a fake smiled pasted to her face, even as several tears spilled from her eyes. I couldn't resist. I reached up and traced the tear stains with my thumbs. Her face was so smooth…so amazingly soft. She closed her eyes at my touch and leaned into me even further. If I leaned in just the slightest, I would be able to press my lips to her forehead.

I was about to do just that, when I picked up my favorite scent in the world. The smell of my Lindsey. And just like that, I forgot all about Amber.

"Mind if I steal my husband?" Lindsey asked, though something in her expression made me want to cringe. I'd hurt her.

"Absolutely," Amber said, pulling away from me.

My emotions were like a yo-yo. Even though I was focused on Lindsey, I felt the absence of Amber's warmth and I was half tempted to pull her back to me. What the fucking hell was going on? I knew it was impossible to imprint twice, so why was I drawn to her like I was?

Ashley came over to us and grabbed Amber's hand, pulling her off the dance floor. I turned to Lindsey and wrapped my arms around her. Suddenly, any confusion I felt disappeared and all I knew was Lindsey. Just like it was supposed to be.

_A/N – I'm going to let you come up with your own theories as to what's going on with Collin and Amber, but at least you have an idea of what's happening in Collin's head. While he might be tempted by Amber, he would never cheat on Lindsey. To answer one question I'm sure I'll get, Lindsey is Collin's only imprint. You'll get more answers in my next story about Sam's kids. PLEASE REVIEW!_

_To see a picture of the characters, please check out the following link:_

_http://s940(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/ad242/IAK_photos/?action=view¤t=_


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